Fbank m



(Mode1.)

F. M. LA BOITEAUX.

VENT BUNG.

No. 347,723. Patented Aug. 17, 1882.

wood.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK M. LA BOITEAUX, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO HENRY VARWIG, OFSAME PLACE.

VENT-BUNG.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 347,723, dated August17, 1886.

Application filed June 19, 1886. Serial No. 205,675. (Modeh) To all whomit may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK M. LA BOITEAUX, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton andState of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements-inVent-Bungs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of bungs in which the grain of thewood is horizontal. or at right angles to'the axis of the bung, andwhich are so made that the center portion may be broken or pushed in bya suitable in strument when a vent is required. In bungs of this classnow generally used a portion of the material from the center of the bungis removed or incisions are made, leaving a web, which is broken bydriving in the ventinginstrument. If this web is left thick, it requiresconsiderable force to break it and drive it in, and if leftso thin as tobe easily driven in, then the gases, which are under consider.-

able pressure in the vessel, are liable to escape,

thereby injuring the beer, ale, or other gaseous liquor.

To overcome these objections is the object of my present invention, andthis object I accomplish by making incisions in both faces of the bungwithout removing any of the wood, and then compressing either one orboth of the central portions surrounded by theincisions, so as tocompletely close the pores of the This prevents leakage, and at the sametime makes the intervening web or unsevered central portion brittle, sothat it will readily break away when the'venting-instrument is inserted.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diametrical sectional viewof my preferred form of bung. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modifiedform. 40

A is the body of the bung. his a circular incision cut in the top of thebung, and c is a circular incision cut in the bottom of the bung, theincision 0 being preferably of greater diameter than the upper incision.The plugs d and e, which are within the incisions, are compressed, asshown in Fig. l, and the bung is complete.

In the form shown in Fig. 2 the upper plug,

(1, is compressed, while the lower plug, 6, is not. The compression ofone plug will be sufficient to prevent leakage; but I prefer tocompressboth plugs, as it makes a better bung and requires no more work.

In practice the incisions b c are made and the centers d e arecompressed at a single operation by a cutter hollowed out the reverse ofthe part e and projecting up from the center of thecompression-cup,which cup is a counterpart of the bung A, and a similar cutter,the 6ointerior of which is the reverse of the part (1.

What I claim is- The bung A, having incisions b c, and having thecentral plug within one or both incisions compressed, substantially asshown and 6 described.

FRANK M. LA BOITEAUX.

WVitnesses:

GEo. J. MURRAY, 0. W. MILES.

